Part of cooking is all about adding flavor to what you are cooking.  Grilling is no exception.  Luckily there are a lots of ways to add delicious flavoring to make your grilling taste fabulous.  The possibilities include rubs to brining to mops and sauces to injections to marinades to adding smoke.  Competition cooks use multiple methods to add layers of flavor that they hope will entice the judges to make them top cook at their competition..   You can do the same thing with your backyard cooking, with the same results for your judges: your guests!

Rubs

Rubs can be applied before, during, and after you grill.  Adding them before can help develop a nice bark or crust on your dish, while sprinkling them on after your grilling is done will freshen up the flavors.  In fact, doing both is a trick that many competitors use to give an extra flavor.  There are many commercial rubs that are available in almost any grocery store.  You can find many different rubs online.  You can also make your own.  Here is one of my favorites.  It's delicious on ribs, but will go with other meats as well.

Rib Rub Recipe

1/2 cup onion powder

1/2 cup garlic powder

1/4 cup paprika

1/4 cup kosher salt

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

2 Tbsp chili powder

1 Tbsp cumin

1 Tbsp black pepper

1 Tbsp salt

Another trick is to buy commercial rubs and then add your own combination of herbs and spices to them to create your own rub recipe.

Brines

Brines are commonly used with poultry.  They are salt based liquid mixtures in which the meat is immersed for a number of hours prior to grilling.  They add moisture, help break down the protein, allowing more moisture to be trapped, which means that more moisture will remain in the meat after grilling.  You'll end up with MUCH moister meat from the grill if you brine.

Brining works well with poultry and pork.  Beef generally has enough fat to help keep it moist, if cooked properly.  A general rule would be to brine the white meats and marinate the red meats.

You can add even more flavor during brining by adding more items to the brine.  Sugar, honey, spices, and herbs will all add even more flavor to the meat you are brining.

I learned about brining turkeys about 10 years ago.  While I haven't tried a brined turkey on the grill yet (yes, it's on the list), it's how I always cook the turkey for Thanksgiving.  In fact, it's the only way my wife will eat turkey.  And she LOVES the brined turkey, so I know that brining is the secret trick.

You can find lots of brine recipes online.  Here is one that I've used, primarily for a turkey.  You could adjust the quantities for smaller pieces:

Honey Turkey Brine

2 1/2 gallons water

3 cups kosher salt
6 Tbsp Morton Tender Quick
3 cups honey
10 bay leaves
1 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp pickling spices

 

Mops and Sauces

Mops and sauces are applied while meat is being grilled.  A mop is generally thinner, is often beer, juice, or vinegar based, and is applied the whole time the meat is on the grill.  It adds flavor and moisture to the meat.

A sauce on the other in is usually thicker, and may be salty, sweet, spicy, or sour.  Sugar in the sauce gives the meat a nice glazed look, and, if done right, will add a slight char to your food as it caramelizes.  Sauces are generally put on the meat near the end of the grilling for that reason.  Put them on for the entire cook and you'll end up with something that is burned.

In many parts of the country, the grillers and bbqers rely on other ways to add flavor to their meats and serve barbecue sauce on the side.  As one bbqer told me, if you put sauce on during your cook, you are trying to hide something.

Like the rubs, you can buy commercial or you can make your own.  Many a backyard cook has become legend in his or her circles because of their fabulous sauce that everyone raves about.  You can make your own from scratch or buy a commercial variety and spice it up with your own secret ingredients.  I've even seen people that gave away a pint of their own sauce for Christmas gifts.

Here's a home made barbecue sauce that is delicious:

Apple City Barbecue Sauce

1 cup ketchup

2/3 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup apple juice

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp prepared yellow mustard

3/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp ground white pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/3 cup bacon bits, ground in a spice grinder

1/3 cup peeled and grated apple

1/3 cup grated onion

2 tsp grated green bell pepper

Combine everything except the apple, onion, and bell pepper and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Stir in the apple, onion, and bell pepper, reduce heat, simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Let it thicken a bit, stirring often.  Let it cool and should be able to store in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Injections

Injecting allows you to quickly get moisture and seasoning right into the heart of the meat.  No waiting around for it to soak in.  It is commonly used when smoking brisket.  You can also inject into poultry.  If you watch any of the barbecue competition shows, you'll see that they frequently inject  their meats to add additional flavor and moisture.

The injection is done using a special syringe.  Stick the tip of the needle into your liquid, pull up on plunger, and then stick the needle into your meat, and push down on the plunger.  As you do that, you'll see liquid start to ooze out between the meat fibers.  Stop, re-position the syringe to another area, push down again on the the plunger, repeat until you need to refill.  Pretty simple.

The one catch is that it is easy to have an explosion and end up with liquid all over the kitchen.  The pressure backs up in the meat and when it finds a weak area, boom!  All over the kitchen.  Doing it a few times will allow you to get the hang of it.  But an easy solution is to cover the meat with plastic wrap, stick the needle through the plastic wrap into the meat, and then inject.  If there is an explosion, the plastic wrap will contain it. How's that for an outdoor cooking magic trick?

Here's an injection that you can use with brisket.  The base is beef broth, with some additional seasonings.  But you can add whatever type of seasoning you want.

Beef Brisket Injection

2 Cups beef broth
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne

Marinades

Marinades is another great way to add flavoring to your meat before you grill.  This method has you create liquid that you soak the meat in for anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours.  Marinades can be used with everything from ribs to beef to poultry to fish.  The difference is generally in what makes up the marinade and how long you let the meat marinade.  Marinades can give a huge variety of flavors to your dishes.  They generally consist of some type of acid (vinegar, fruit juice, etc, ) an oil, and spices and herbs.  The acid part of the marinade can help tenderize tougher cuts of meat.

The American Cancer Research Institute says that marinating meats actually helps reduce some of the cancer causing agents that might otherwise exist in meats that are cooked over direct flame.

The simplest marinade is just Italian Dressing, and nothing else.  If you want to try marinating, start with Italian Dressing.  Simply put meat and the dressing in a zip lock bag, put into the fridge, and let it marinate away.  Beef marinates the longest, from 1 to 5 hours, poultry from 30 minutes to 3 hours and fish no more than 30 minutes.

After you start grilling with the marinated meat, you should discard the remaining marinade--it's had raw meat in it and it's unsafe to use unless you boil it for 5 minutes before using. That will ruin the marinade in some cases, so I don't suggest doing it.  If you want some extra to brush on later, make a little extra and save it off to the side before adding the rest to the zip-lock bag with the meat.

I highly recommend you try marinating if you haven't.  It's one more fabulous way to add flavor.

Here is one homemade marinade to get you started.  I use it primarily for grilled shish kebabs:

Shish Kebab Marinade

3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp California style blend garlic powder
3/4 t Hot Shot! Black & Red Pepper Blend

Smoke

 Finally, did you know that it's easy to add a bit of genuine smoky flavor to all your grilling?  If you are grilling on a charcoal grill, soak some wood chips in water for 30 minutes and then toss a handful directly on the coals to allow them to smolder while you grill.

If you are grilling on propane, you aren't left out.  You can buy a fancy smoking box, but I find that aluminum foil works just as well and maybe even better.  No need to soak the wood chips ahead of time for propane.  Just take a square of aluminum foil (around 10"-12" on a side), put a handful of chips in the middle.  Seal it up, leaving some room for air.  Turn it over to the smooth side and tear a few small holes in the foil packet to allow the smoke to escape.

Put the packet over the flames on your grill while you are heating it up, then add your meat to the grill and keep the lid down.  You'll have a wonderful smoky flavor to whatever you are cooking.

 

There are other ways to add flavoring, but these are definitely my top six.  You can even do these in combinations, each adding a layer of flavor.  Start with a rub.  Add a mop or sauce.  Grill with smoke going.  You'll have an incredibly tasty dish at the end.

Enjoy!

For more grilled vegetable tips and tricks, see my ebook, Grilled Vegetable Magic, available in Kindle Format or PDF format.